Last Friday I made time to visit Crystal River, FL to swim with the manatees. Karen & I had been there back in early 2013 on an exceptionally cold day, where we visited King Springs and Three Sisters Springs. While we saw manatees, the water clarity was not great at King Springs and I didn’t bring the camera to Three Sisters which I later found out had the great visibility I wanted. Knowing what to expect, I headed directly to Three Sisters this time.Continue reading Three Sisters Springs

One advantage of being with a company 24 years is accumulating a lot of vacation time. The hard part is finding time to use it. With the Florida temps dropping below the “%$&* it’s out here!” level and it being a light work week, Iast Monday was a good day to play hooky.

It had been a month and half since I last dove (and last blog post), so where to go? Fort Lauderdale? A bit too far. Key Largo? Even further and was just there. Palm Beach, Hmmm. Shore dive or boat trip? The boat diving and reefs are great, but had not done a beach dive in a while. That narrowed it down… Blue Heron Bridge.Continue reading Day Trip to Blue Heron Bridge

The start of Day #3 sent us to our northern most dives sites on the trip. Both on Elbow Reef, Mike’s Wreck and City of Washington are popular spots. Mike’s Wreck is the remains of an unknown steel ship. Contrasting that is City of Washington, which in 1898 was anchored in Havana Harbor near the USS Maine when it blew up. The Washington was damaged by burning debris from the Maine. After being a troop transport during the Spanish-American war, she was converted to a coal barge. While being towed in 1917, she struck Elbow Reef and quickly sank.Continue reading Dive Fest 2014 – Recap from Days 3, 4, & 5

It was that time of year again. Dive Fest time. An annual foray to indulge in warm, clear saltwater and good times with friends.

With sandals, shorts and t-shirts ready and dive gear packed we loaded up for the drive south to Key Largo. Spencer arrived at the crack of 10AM. I always envy his ‘white trash’ luggage (a.k.a. laundry basket), which makes for easy packing. After some rearranging of the truck we were off to meet up with Carol & Mike to start the caravan. Back for their second year, they’d been a great addition to the Dive Fest crew.Continue reading Dive Fest 2014 – Recap from Days 1 & 2